New Orleans Looks to Bounce Back Against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks
Dallas Mavericks 108 New Orleans Pelicans 92
The Pelicans hoped to have a bounce back performance against the 6-3 Dallas Mavericks. New Orleans was absolutely clowned in their primetime lost to the Golden State Warriors on Friday after an abysmal third quarter that put the game out of reach. Head coach Willie Green had some firm statements leading up to this game stating that the team was not playing together on Friday night. Jason Kidd has the Mavericks kind of struggling, especially offensively, leading into the game despite the team’s current record. This team has been one of the greatest offenses in the league with young star Luka Doncic being the centerpiece. Brandon Ingram remains out with his hip contusion, and Herb Jones remains out with his concussion. Let’s hop into the game.
The Pelicans started the game strong and active which should have been predictive with Willie Green’s recent comments to the media. New Orleans did allow some early offensive rebounds to the Mavericks but only gave up 6 points through first 6 minutes of the game. Luka Doncic struggled early in the paint hitting his floaters, and Kristaps Porzingis missed his first few jump shots as Josh Hart was tasked with the assignment of guarding the 7’3 big man. Hart had a great night overall but played great defense against Porzingis in particular. Yes, he’s 10 inches shorter than the Unicorn, but he really gets into the body and underneath Porzingis’ chest which was difficult for Kristaps to deal with since he’s not strong like your typical big man. Josh Hart was also great offensively in the first half. He attacked closeouts well and was good off the dribble in general. Also went 1 for 2 on 3’s in the first half and Devonte Graham started the game off well knocking down both of his open 3’s. Nickeil Alexander-Walker started the game rough missing his first two open 3’s but slowly started to knock down some shots and score around the paint later in the second half of the game. He continues to only be decently efficient when he gets into the paint with his crafty finishes. The two lead Pelican guards only finished 4 for 18 from 3-point range, but Graham did finish with 10 assists and only 1 turnover. Graham was also a team high +10 for the game.
Jaxson Hayes came off the bench after receiving the DNP Friday night against the Warriors, and he responded well. Was aggressive as always on the offensive boards but also trying to get his own buckets. Hayes had a nice and-one after being switched onto the smaller defender, and a nice running hook in the paint over Dwight Powell. Defensively, Hayes was ok. He had one possession where Luka drove to the rim but passed out to the perimeter just from Jaxson’s presence in the paint. But once Jason Kidd let Porzingis play as center, Kristap’s shooting caused some issues for Hayes and the defense as a whole. Naji Marshall had a few offensive possessions where he was standing in the dunker’s spot. He has struggled mightily on the offensive end of the floor this year so maybe this is a wrinkle from Willie Green to get some easier looks for Naji.
Tomas Satoransky has been getting more minutes recently which helps with the lack of passing this team has as he is constantly looking to make the right pass when he has the ball in his hands. At times though, it looked like he was hunting the pass a little too much. He plays the game at a pretty slow pace to where he can work his way into the paint for those floater range shots, but he just didn’t hit any tonight. He had one nice possession where he realized Dallas was in a zone, darts to the free throw line to break the zone, and works the ball around leading to a Jaxson Hayes missed open layup although Hayes seemed to think he was pushed in the back and fouled - didn’t get called. The other veteran on the team, Garrett Temple, continues to be solid for this team. He always has one stretch where the Pelicans offense gets a little stagnant towards the middle of the game, and he knocks down a couple threes or just gives something offensively to right the ship for the moment. Tonight, Temple started off the second half knocking down a 3 and two floaters.
To me, this game was more of a Dallas Mavericks story. Jason Kidd continues to start Dwight Powell and Kristaps Porzingis together at center and power forward, respectively. Later in the first quarter, Kidd let Porzingis play center, and it opens up the offense so much more for them. A funny moment in the game was Jason Kidd used his coach’s challenge on a blocking foul that is generally a hard call to overturn when it’s not a charge attempt. Then the very next Pelicans possession, Devonte Graham steps out of bounds, but the refs call it another blocking foul when it was pretty obvious on the replay that Graham just lost his balance. Luka and Porzingis run a lot of post-ups which is something former head coach Rick Carlisle basically never did, mainly because Luka operates the pick and roll so well. Luka really started to heat up towards the end of the second half by working in the post and hitting a big three a couple possessions before the end of the half. New Orleans really doesn’t have anyone that can guard Luka. Josh Hart is probably the best option, but he was on Porzingis. Garrett Temple was the main defender for Luka tonight, and Luka just played at whatever pace he wanted to tonight. He was never rushed while he was in the paint and went 2 for 5 on his 3-point attempts. Jalen Brunson had a great game coming off of the bench and simply being able to run and create offense when Luka Doncic is on the bench. Did just a little bit of everything offensively finishing with 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists.
The main issue basically boils down to the Pelicans cannot create offense when Jonas Valanciunas is off the floor. Jason Kidd went to a zone when the Pelicans had Hayes, Sato, Naji, NAW, and Hart on the floor which was a pretty smart move since that lineup has basically no shooting - a nice chest move against Willie Green. Coach Green acknowledged it in the postgame presser that he needs to tighten up his rotations. He said that he needs to balance the vets with the young guys or at least the bench guys with some of the starters more often. This game got out of hand at the end of the third/beginning of the fourth quarter. The Pelicans had these offensive possessions in a row: Trey Murphy had the ball poked out of bounds after standing with it in the corner trying to do a move out of the triple threat, Satoransky botches an open layup after hitting the defender with a step through, Kira Lewis shoots a long 3 early in the shot clock, Trey shoots a 3 early in the shot clock that wasn’t a great look either, Valanciunas misses an open mid range short, and Satoransky misses a floater in the lane. Just six possessions in a row without a single point cannot happen especially against an experienced offensive force like the Dallas Mavericks. The bench offense just cannot be trusted to keep this team in games. Kira Lewis played just over 6.5 minutes and was a -20 for the game. That is just abysmal. Kira’s key ability is his elite speed, but all three of his shot attempts were 3-pointers. He needs to use his speed to get into the paint, draw the defense in, and kick out if the shot is not there. My worry is, even once Brandon Ingram and even Zion comeback from their injuries, the bench units will still struggle to score. NAW will probably be moved to the bench, but he has been struggling offensively as well. Now, I still trust Nickeil over Kira right now just because he is more talented, but David Griffin has to be disappointed with how these guys are playing so far this year. The bench had 10 total points and Jaxson Hayes was responsible for all of ten of those points. However, with your two best players and a key rotation guy out right now, you can’t be too upset with the loss because in theory, the Pelicans are suppose to lose this game. New Orleans is just starting the year off with a lot of bumps and bruises which the fans should be used to. The next Pelicans game is Wednesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder at 7:00.